The Light and Dark of Thedas
by Reptillianbobcat
Summary: A chance encounter gave Naruto a family. Now a choice will send him past the shores of the Elemental Nations to a previously undiscovered continent where a war is brewing with an ancient enemy. Men's hearts and minds may hold shadows darker than any tainted beast, but light cannot shine without darkness. This is Dragon Age, so as you know, it will get gory and (hopefully) awesome
1. Self Imposed Exile

Introductory AN:

So here's another story I recently had an idea for, for those of you who have read my other story, Ordinary Event with Extraordinary Consequences, this first chapter may seem pretty familiar, and it should, as I'm using that chapter for this story as well. Of course this won't be a strictly Naruto fic, it's a crossover with dragon age… but you probably already know that since crossovers have their own sections…

Just a few things you can expect from this. First this story will also be starring a character of my own creation, Kurai; and before you start, this is not a self-insert; god knows there are enough of those. Not to say there are no good ones, but if there are I certainly have never read one. Although I suppose it will sorta be starring multiple OC wardens…

Second, the relationship between this character of my creation, and Naruto will be brotherly not homosexual, I have no problem with yoai, slash or whatever it's called in the various fandom's, but it's just not my style. Same with yuri, have no interest in reading it or writing it…usually.

Third, I'm not planning on making said character godlike, though that usually ties in with a self-insert if I remember correctly. Granted having access to Naruto style ninja skills would make someone pretty overpowered in the dragon age world… then again most of the time you end up fighting against like thirty people at once, so I guess it evens out.

And fourth, it may take forever, but I plan to have this story cover all the way from before origins to inquisition, then maybe even further if the mood strikes. So odds are if you enjoy this story, you'll have a long time to enjoy it. Oh, and don't worry, I've done every single quest in origins and dragon age 2, so I do know what I'm talking about as far as lore and characters and such :D

Anyway enough of me rambling on, let's get to what you're all here for, yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Dragon Age, I'm just a big fan of both stories; I do however claim the characters that I created to put into this story as my intellectual property. I feel as though I screwed that up somewhere :(

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It was a normal day in fire country; the sun just peeked out from behind the mountains to fall over the lush forests. The birds began to sing all throughout the woods. It was this sound that awoke Hiroshi Satou. (1)

Hiroshi was an average man with an average life, each day he worked the fields that had been in his family for generations, and after every harvest he packed his families wagon and went on a journey to the village hidden in the leaves to sell his produce.

Glancing towards the clock in his bedroom, Hiroshi saw that it was several minutes before he usually woke up. Deciding that the earlier he set out the faster he would be back, he threw the sheets of his bed and started to dress.

After going through his morning routine, shaving, showering, dressing. Hiroshi walked down the stairs of his families two floor house and smiled at his family who were gathered in the kitchen. His wife had already prepared breakfast, and their two children had already started eating.

Sitting down the between his eight year old son and six year old daughter Hiroshi began to eat his meal. The family sat in a comfortable silence while they ate.

When their meal was finished the family gathered on their porch to wish Hiroshi good luck on his trip, the patriarch kneeled down and hugged his two children then stood and kissed his wife on her cheek before turning and climbing aboard their wagon. With one last wave he set off from his farm towards the Hidden Leaf Village.

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Hiroshi sat bored out of his mind on his wagon as the two horses leading it clomped along steadily. They had reached a river and the closest bridge was an hour up the road, however as he had left several minutes earlier than he had intended he was about to get a stroke of luck.

"Excuse me sir!" Hiroshi turned towards the voice and saw a ferryman pushing his boat along the river. The man pushed up the riverbank to Hiroshi's cart.

"Are you heading towards the Leaf village by any chance?" The boatman asked, Hiroshi nodded, "Then could I trouble you for a favor, I have business in the leaf village and you have business in the Leaf village, so perhaps we could help each other out. I could ferry your cart across the river in exchange for transport to the Leaf village"

"Sounds fair to me, happy to work with you sir" Hiroshi said, an easy smile on his face. It took the pair several minutes to get the cart and the horses onto the boat, but it shaved a couple of hours off of Hiroshi's journey

After a few more hours of relatively quiet travel the two men arrived at the massive gates to the Leaf village. The two showed their papers to the guards and were allowed into the city where they shook hands and went their separate ways.

Hiroshi went to the merchant guild that he usually dealt with and found out that there was a shortage of rice coming in from the west, a drought or something along those lines, so the guild was willing to pay more for his produce.

Upon leaving the guild, with his money bag much larger than he had expected, Hiroshi headed towards the shopping district to buy a few gifts for his family.

When Hiroshi had finished his little shopping trip He headed off to find a place to eat his lunch. Pulling over at the entrance to an alley way Hiroshi opened up the bento that his wife had prepared for him, with some of his favorite food, tamago. Smiling to himself he dug into his meal.

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Meanwhile at the other end of the alley a boy was running for his life. This boy was Naruto Uzumaki and he had no idea why there was a bloodthirsty mob behind him. Sure he liked to pull pranks, but not to the extent that he should be hunted down like an animal, in the streets of his own village no less.

As Naruto ran towards the end of the alley his hopes lifted, if he could make it to the end of the ally he could just lose himself in the crowds, his hopes fell when he saw the cart that was blocking the exit of the alley.

The boy turned around, to see the mob running at him, blocking off the other end of the ally, beginning to panic Naruto whipped his head around and saw a small side alley. Working on instinct the boy ran into it and turned, only to come face to face with another dead-end.

From back the way he had come the sounds of the mob grew louder, and just as they rounded the corner a tiny hand shot out a grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt pulling him behind a dumpster. A boy then took his place at the dead-end.

The boy was obviously malnourished; he had the look of some of the stray cats that Naruto had seen from his apartment window, almost feral and ready to fight tooth and nail, but still with their wits about them. Cagey would be the best word to describe the boy. He had an aura about him; even Naruto who regularly pranked trained killers was intimidated by the child before him.

Appearance wise he was a bit taller than Naruto, with a similar build, scrawny muscle, made from running and climbing more than real training. He also had a mop of matted black hair with few white streaks in it.

The boy eyes were what Naruto really focused on; they were the same eyes that he saw in the mirror each day, though a far darker shade of blue. They were pools of loneliness and despair, the same as Naruto's when he was alone and didn't need to keep his mask in place.

The mob had reached the boy by now and gathered in a loose semi-circle around him, a few brandished weapons, but one of the ringleaders stepped forward and decided to be diplomatic. Taking a knee the man leaned forward in front of the child, "Have you seen another boy around here, about your age, blonde hair, whisker marks" the man said with a snarl at the end.

"Maybe I did" Naruto tensed behind the dumpster" Or maybe I didn't, memories a little fuzzy." the man threw down a couple of coins by the boys feet. "Yeah I saw him, scrambled up that dumpster and onto the roof, then he ran off towards the Hokage monument" the men smirked to each other, the Hokage monument was secluded, no witnesses.

"You heard him boys, lets end the demon once and for all!" the ring leader called, throwing up a fist, then leading the mob away. Once the men had rounded the corner and their footsteps faded Naruto crawled out from behind the dumpster and looked at his savior who had stooped down to collect the money for the 'information' that he had provided

"Th-thank you for helping me" Naruto murmured, to which the boy nodded and separated the money into two piles, pocketing one he extended his hand with the rest to Naruto, who slowly reached out to take it.

"It's dangerous around here, I'll walk you home." The boy said gesturing for Naruto to lead the way. The two boys fell into step together; it was several moments before Naruto remembered his manners.

"Oh, I didn't introduce myself did I? I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" Naruto yelled.

The boy smiled softly at Naruto's declaration, "My name is Kurai, it's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-san" Kurai said to the exuberant boy that he had saved.

"So, uh, Kurai-san why were you in that alley? I-if you don't mind me asking that is" Naruto murmured.

"I'm an orphan, or at least I'm fairly sure that I am, as to why that alley way in particular, it was a defensible location, only one entrance, well aside from the sewer but that was my escape plan. I guess I'm gonna have to find a new place now" Kurai said with a sigh at the end, it would be hard to find another place to campout, for whatever time he had left.

"Well, uh, you c-could come live with me" Naruto muttered with a slight blush of embarrassment, this darkened when the boy glanced sharply at him. Even though he was embarrassed to admit it, Naruto would gladly take the person who had saved his life over the crushing loneliness of his apartment.

"Are you sure about that, you don't have to make an offer like that" Kurai said incredulously. He had not had much experience with people being kind to him, let alone someone offering to take him in. "Plus what about your parents, you should ask them before you make an offer like that!"

"Heh, I'm an orphan as well. My place isn't very big... But it's certainly more comfortable than some back alley. Kurai nodded to this, it had been a few years since he'd experienced the comforts of a home.

Kurai smiled at the embarrassed looking blonde and extended his hand, "Very well, I'll take you up on your offer... roomie" Naruto vigorously shook his hand with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on then! I've never had anyone stay in my apartment, besides myself that is, well the old man comes by sometimes but not for long, Wait no Kiba came over once for a project we had to do a few..." Naruto rambled on for most of the trip back to his apartment, while Kurai kept a small serene smile on his face the whole time.

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Naruto and his new roommate walked up the stairs to his apartment. All along the way to Naruto's apartment the two had seen walls tagged with graffiti, most of it seemed to show that Kurai's new roommate was a demon in the form of a human child.

With a jingle of keys Naruto opened the door of his apartment, Naruto groaned at the state of his apartment. Someone had broken in the window, then climbed through and busted up Naruto's entire home. Naruto didn't look surprised at it though.

"This happens a couple of times a year, usually they wait until the tenth, must have had something else planned for tomorrow." Kurai noticed Naruto's whole disposition change as soon as the door closed behind them. His grin faded a little and his eyes lost a bit of their shine, He seemed much more serious than he had on the walk home.

"Why does this usually happen on the tenth?"

"It's my birthday, people are usually even more mean to me on my birthday, except jiji, he always visits me and then we go for ramen and..." Naruto went off on another ramble over how nice his jiji was and the goodness of ramen; though this one was more subdued than the last ones. Kurai had seen a lot of things in his time on the street, and done a few things that he wasn't particularly proud off, most people in their position had, but he had never met anyone as seemingly pure hearted as Naruto.

Either that or the boy was naïve to the point of being a danger to himself and possibly others. But then again one didn't survive alone by being naïve. Naruto being so pure also brought another question to Kurai, what had Naruto done to be called a demon and harassed as he was?

He had said things got worse on his birthday, glancing at a calendar which appeared to be a reward for showing enough proof of ramen purchase stamps, Kurai saw the tenth of October circled and in small black letters underneath 'Anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat'.

Referred to as a demon, birthday on the anniversary of the defeat of the most powerful demon in the world... Whisker marks. Kurai tensed as he realized this maybe his new roommate really was a demon in human form, it couldn't all be a coincidence.

But why would the villagers, who as a whole could probably be defeated by a determined genin, antagonize one of the most powerful creatures in the known world. And why were they told the fourth had killed the Kyuubi if it was alive and cleaning its apartment a few feet away.

The Hokage obviously thought it would be alright to leave Naruto largely unattended so he must be under the assumption that he wasn't dangerous, of course kitsune were also assumed to be tricksters...

But speaking of Hokage, they were known to be seal masters of the highest caliber; perhaps the fox was not dead but sealed? 'But if that's the case then for what purpose?' Kurai thought looking at the scrawny blonde. 'If it were for combat purposes, he would be receiving proper nourishment and training.'

"Oi...OI" Naruto shouted startling Kurai out of his thoughts. "You zoned out for like five minutes, are you all right?" Naruto asked getting right up into Kurai's face with an inquisitive look.

"Hmmm, yeah fine, just lost in thought is all" Kurai said, his small smile in place again. "We should clean this mess up before it gets too late, right?" Naruto nodded enthusiastically at the prospect of help cleaning up his apartment.

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Later that night with Naruto asleep and Kurai feeling cleaner that he had in years, the window cracked open slightly as Kurai dressed in a dark hoodie he had 'borrowed' from Naruto's closet, climbed out to the fire escape. While cleaning Kurai had noticed that one of the vandals had been cut by the broken glass of the window, and deciding that some revenge was in order Kurai started following the faint trail of blood drops.

Of course lacking any formal training limited Kurai about how he could get from building to building, as it appeared that his quarry was a ninja though not a very good one if he was leaving a trail for someone as inexperienced as Kurai was.

It took several hours and several double backs before the trail came to an end. A bloody hand print stood out on the window of the apartment Kurai stood outside of. Inside a man in his mid-twenties had passed out on a bed, several empty sake bottles scattered around the room.

gently cracking the window open and sliding it up, a scent comparable to a brewery caused the boy to gag, luckily the man was drunk or Kurai would have had some explaining to do. As it was Kurai successfully snuck into the room and gently bound the man, hands to elbows to prevent him from using any jutsu, and sat him in a nearby chair before binding him to the chair.

A bowl full of water hit the man in the face, waking him from the 'nap' that he had taken. The man's ninja training kicked in and he knew the second that he woke up the kind of situation that he was in.

"What the hell do you- ack!" The man was cut off by a sharp blow to the face from the small blurry figure in swaying in front of him.

Using the monotone voice that had been developed over years of trying to be as intimidating as possible among the vagrants in the village sewers and back streets He whispered from right beside the man's head. "You will answer my questions, or I'll paint this entire apartment a nice shade of red." The blood thirsty grin and merciless look in Kurai's eyes almost made the drunken man soil himself.

Kurai didn't know it but in that instant he released concentrated killing intent at the man, the genin however knew enough about his profession to recognize it and paled even more. It was likely that he was dealing with a trained infiltrator and interrogation expert, this was incorrect of course. The alcohol driving him to wild conclusions.

"A-a-all right, I'll do w-whatever you want." the man stammered.

"Good, tell me everything about the child Naruto Uzumaki."

"T-that brat, a-all right that's easy. T-the third hold us that the fourth had s-sealed the Kyuubi into the boy. N-no one believed it of course, no child could hold something like that, and certainly not for very long"

"Why do you all antagonize him if you believe him a demon?" Kurai asked genuinely confused.

"W-we want that demon spawn to kill himself or even to kill it ourselves"

"Humph, fools. From this moment on you are to leave the child alone, warn any who wish to do him harm that if they try anything, I will make them miserable"

"Is that it, a-are you going to untie me now?" The man almost begged. Kurai let out a short peal of laughter which made the man cringe.

"Of course not, what good would my threat be if I didn't give some sort of incentive?_"_ The genins eyes widened as boy shoved a rag into his mouth and proceeded to smash a bottle across his face. In that instant Kurai made a promise to himself, he would always protect Naruto, especially from trash like this.

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Far off from the leaf village Hiroshi sat on his porch staring up at the sky, tobacco pipe in hand. He would never know that his decision to eat his lunch in front of that ally way had changed the fate of the elemental nations, though for better or worse it was unclear.

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Kurai squinted against the early morning sun as he walked calmly out the front door of the genins apartment building, his wallet a bit fatter than it had been the day before. In the room he had just left, tied to a chair sat a beaten, bloody and broken genin, who had overnight developed a severe phobia of foxes and children.

When he was discovered several hours later by his team, they asked him in angry voices who had done this to him, the genin merely pointed at his bedroom wall, where drawn sloppily in blood was a grinning skull. This would later become the talk of Konoha for several days, ninja beaten to a pulp in his own apartment. There would be some wild speculation of course but no one ever thought that Kurai had perpetrated the incident.

Kurai was well on his way back to Naruto's apartment when he heard a man riding down the street on horseback shouting about a ninja who had been attacked. The small smile on Kurai's face went unnoticed by the on-looking civilians.

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Creeping stealthily into Naruto's apartment, Kurai curled up on the couch for a few hours of sleep before Naruto awoke. It seemed like he had only just closed his eyes when he felt himself being prodded by an inquisitive blonde.

"Wake up Kurai, it's already noon! You sure do sleep a lot!" Naruto shouted, his usual energy preventing him from speaking at a normal conversation level.

"Well its, ahhhh, been a while since I've slept inside" Kurai said sheepishly, to which Naruto frowned, but didn't comment on, sitting for a few moments before he snapped his fingers. "Do you want some breakfast, err, I guess it would be lunch? You must be hungry." As if on queue, Kurai's stomach rumbled.

Naruto nodded to himself and stood, walking from the couch to the small kitchen attached to the dining room. The blonde opened one of the cabinets and Kurai's eyes widened as he took in the vast assortment of ramen his new friend had stockpiled. Miso, pork, chicken, and probably dozens more. Naruto noticed his expression and grinned sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I don't have much, but this stuff is cheap and it tastes pretty good…" Naruto trailed off, watching the other boy nervously. Kurai smiled and walked over to pluck a box of miso ramen from the cupboard.

"Don't worry about it, this is gourmet compared to some of the things I've had to eat. Are you seriously living off this stuff though, I mean, it's probably filling, but I doubt it's very nutritious." Kurai mused, examining the small nutritional chart on the bottom of the cup. As he suspected they weren't all that healthy, but who was he to complain; food was food.

The blonde filled a dented metal kettle with water from his tap and placed it on the stove. Naruto leaned against the counter, examining Kurai. "So Kurai-san-"

"You can drop the sans, I'm not one for formality." Kurai interrupted, sitting in a small chair next to the counter.

Naruto smiled, "Good, I don't think I would have been able to keep it up anyway. So, Kurai, would you like to cum with me to see old man Hokage, he always makes time for a visit on my birthday."

"Heh, sure, sounds fun. Look at me, going from street urchin to meeting the Hokage in less than a day" Kurai laughed, and Naruto chuckled with him. The sharp whistle of the kettle interrupted them, and Naruto quickly poured water into the Styrofoam ramen cups.

"What are you doing here brat!" the Hokage's receptionist yelled. Naruto had never seen the same receptionist outside the Hokage's office twice before, likely because the Hokage fired them after he left.

Kurai calmly stepped forward "Can you let the Hokage know that Naruto Uzumaki is here to see him?"

"The Hokage is very busy, he doesn't have time for trash like you!" the woman snarled, she froze as the door to the Hokage's office opened and a wizened old man stepped out, a small cloud of tobacco smoke around his head.

"I think I have a few minutes to spare for them, come along I've a surprise for you Naruto" The old man said, smiling at the boy. Kurai was a bit shocked, everyone in the village knew that the Hokage was getting on, but this man looked ancient, Naruto would probably end up as the Rukodaime judging by how old the current Hokage was.

Trailing behind the two Kurai closed the door to the office and saw that the third had apparently been expecting them. Set out on his desk was a teapot, a jug of juice with some glasses and a small white cake with the number seven in bright, neon orange.

The third sat in his chair behind his desk and motioned for the two of them to sit. "Naruto, introduce me to your new friend." the Sandaime said, a benevolent smile on his face. Kurai was surprised to find no ulterior motives in the Hokage's eyes, he seemed to just genuinely like Naruto, it was refreshing.

"Oh, right, Kurai, this is Jiji, Jiji this is Kurai" Naruto said half-heartedly more focused on cutting himself a piece of cake. Sarutobi and Kurai both sighed at Naruto's total lack of tact. Kurai was once again surprised at how different Naruto was around other people, here he was acting like an excitable little kid, when earlier he had acted far more mature.

"Well erm, pleasure to meet you Kurai-chan, would you two like to tell me how you met?" Sarutobi asked, sparing the cake from a total mangling by deftly removing the knife from Naruto's hands and cutting it into thirds.

"Kurai saved my life Jiji, so I offered for him to live with me and now we're roommates" Naruto mumbled around a mouth full of cake.

"Saved you're life eh, sounds as though you two had an adventure" the Sandaime chuckled, while on the inside he was furious that his anbu had disobeyed him again, he really couldn't count on anyone besides Kakashi to protect the blonde...

Kurai scoffed, "Not really, it was just a few villagers demonstrating their complete stupidity" The thirds eyes turned hard for a moment before he covered it. "But I figured Naruto needed someone to look out for him, and I'm as good a person as any to do it.

Sarutobi smiled at the two, they reminded him of another pair he had seen so many years before a loudmouthed and impulsive man, who was always followed by a reserved and clever man to keep him from making foolish decisions. Of course the two had a long way to go before they reached that level.

"What about your parents Kurai, surely they will be worried about you?"

"They don't worry much I think, their either dead or long gone from the leaf village, I've been on my own for as long as I can remember.' Kurai said with a shrug.

Sarutobi frowned, "I don't remember seeing you on the orphan registry, I'm sure I would have remembered a name as... unique as yours. (2).

"I think I was in an orphanage for a while, but it's a bit fuzzy after that, as far as I know one day I woke up in an alley with no idea where I was, been eking out an existence ever since.

"Well if you're gonna live with Naruto, the two of you will need more money, I'll double the monthly deposit I make to Naruto's account and mark you two down as family in Naruto's file-" The Hokage was cut off when Naruto leaped into his lap and hugged him around the middle.

"Thank you, thank you Jiji!" Naruto cried, he would finally have real family, while Kurai looked on, too shocked to say anything. Sarutobi patted the boy on the back and looked over his shoulder at the clock, he had an appointment in a few minutes, unfortunate, as Naruto was always entertaining, and the civilian council was decidedly not. Picking Naruto up and placing him on the ground the Hokage stood and gestured towards the door.

"Unfortunately I have a meeting soon, but I'll put some time aside to visit tomorrow all right Naruto-kun, I just need to have a few words with Kurai-kun, he'll catch up in a minute." Naruto nodded and stepped out of the office to wait.

"So Kurai-kun, you want to protect Naruto, eh?" The old ninja asked, staring out the large windows surrounding his office, he was suddenly all business.

"Yes, sir" Kurai said in his most respectful voice.

Sarutobi smiled, "Are you at all interested in becoming a ninja?"

"Of course Hokage-sama. Naruto's in the academy right, so if I'm gonna protect him I need the same power he's getting" Kurai said excitement clear in his voice. He had never dreamed he would be given the chance to become a ninja, the best job he could hope to have.

"Then report in on Monday to Naruto's class, consider this your first mission: Protect Naruto, no matter the cost. I'm counting on you Kurai-kun. Now, you two should probably go before Naruto angers my soon to be out of a job secretary even more." the Sandaime said with a sigh, another four hours of interviews. Kurai nodded gratefully as he ran from the room.

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One year later

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"This way Naruto! We can lose them in the back streets!" Kurai called over his shoulder, running towards an intersection, he grabbed a light post on the corner, which had just flickered on as the day came to an end, and used it to quickly turn down a street leading towards the more densely populated area of Konoha. As he turned he caught sight of his adoptive brother a few paces behind, red in the face and huffing, but still determined to escape. Further back he could see the looming silhouette of the mob that had formed to hunt them down.

It was once again Naruto's birthday, but this time the village would not settle for just trashing his apartment, they were out for blood. It wasn't the first time since meeting Naruto that Kurai had joined the blonde in running for his life, but there were more villagers in the mob than usual, some even wore leaf headbands.

Over the year he had known Naruto, Kurai had grown quite attached to the boy, he was nice to people sometimes for no other reason than to be nice. It was refreshing to someone like him who had never felt any need to be nice to people. It disturbed him that the village was capable of such malice against one of its own, and a child at that. Even now he could see members of the anbu black ops watching from the roof tops, but not interfering, they had probably been compensated well for turning a blind eye. That was the true nature of this village, with the civilian council usurping power from the Hokage, ones position in the village was based on who you knew, who owed you a favour and how much influence you had over the wealthy citizens, not strength as it had been in the days of the third shinobi war.

Not for the first time he considered simply leaving, taking Naruto and escaping past the walls. Naruto would never go for it of course, the only thing that had kept him going for years was a desire to become Hokage, but really how realistic was that? Would the council, shinobi and civilian, ever consent to their most hated pariah ruling them? Unlikely.

He didn't much like the idea himself, after all they couldn't become shinobi if they didn't live in the village; and no matter how much the Hokage liked them, he would have to send out squads of black ops to hunt them down and bring them back, Naruto was too valuable to be allowed to leave. Perhaps in a few years, once they had a few skills under their belt, but even then they would be no match for an experienced tracker.

Turning left Kurai led Naruto towards the dense network of apartments and shops where they hoped to lose the majority of their pursuers. Slowing a little Kurai grasped Naruto's hand and turned down the first street they passed, then turned left at the next T-shaped intersection. The streets were narrow, and he hoped the press of bodies would eventually jam up behind them and allow them to escape in the confusion. Already he could hear the villagers cursing at them.

Turning right two more times and then left, they arrived at a dead end, Naruto groaned, "Kurai, what do we do now… we're gonna have to turn around."

Kurai paused and examined the alley, then stopped and pointed at a fire escape ten or so feet above them. "If we can grab that we can get up to the roof tops, they won't be able to follow."

Naruto frowned at the ladder, "How do we get it down? Sorry to break it to you, but both of us are pretty short…"

Kurai frowned as well, judging the distance, "Alright uh…" Glancing around he saw an old dresser someone had tossed out and dragged it over underneath the ladder, "Stand on this, then I'll boost you up." Kurai ordered, his heart rate picking up as he heard the villagers drawing closer. Naruto nodded and they climbed up. The dresser let out an ominous moan as they stood on it, and Kurai could see the wood bowing under their combined weight. Cupping his hands, Kurai jerked his head at the ladder which was now just within their reach. "Sooner would be better than later.

He heard boots clomping closer as the mob fanned out in the maze of streets. Naruto placed one foot in Kurai's hand and the other on his head to steady himself, then pushed off with his other foot as Kurai raised him. His fingertips touched the bottom rung and he pushed off Kurai's hand lightly, getting the couple extra inches he needed to grab on. His weight pulled the ladder down just as the wood of the dresser finally gave out under Kurai who grunted as a splinter of wood pierced his calf.

"C'mon Kurai, we're home free!" Naruto shouted, clasping his adoptive brothers forearm and pulling him too his feet. Kurai winced as he put a little weight on his leg, but pulled himself up the ladder without complaint. Naruto kicked the remains of the dresser away and climbed up after him. Together they pulled the ladder up and started up the fire escape to the roof. They saw no one in any of the windows as they climbed, which was probably a good thing.

Stopping on the roof Kurai and Naruto sat down against a low concrete lip which wrapped around the roof and let out twin sighs of relief. "Whew, these birthday celebrations really make me appreciate the rest of the year." Naruto chuckled dryly, pushing himself to his feet and wiping sweat out of his eyes with the back of his hand. Kurai laughed, pulling up his pant leg to examine his wound, which now that his adrenaline was running out had turned from a dull throb to an inferno of pain.

He was bleeding, which obscured much of the puncture, out of which three or four inches of wood still jutted. He would guess a little more than half remained inside his calf. Naruto's face fell as he saw the splinter, and he kneeled at Kurai's feet.

"Kami… What do we do about this? Pull it out or leave it in till we get home?" Naruto asked, craning his neck to better inspect the injury.

"I-I don't know, I think we pull it out…" Kurai responded hesitantly, Naruto nodded, stone faced as he gently touched the wood, He pulled his hand back when Kurai winced just from the slight pressure. "When I tell you, pull it out quickly, but try to keep your hand steady. Can you do that?" He asked, sucking in a deep breath. Naruto nodded and pulled one of his sandals off, handing it to Kurai.

"You should probably bite down on this… Sorry, there isn't really anything else…" Naruto trailed off, and Kurai nodded, he held the sandal near his mouth, took a deep breath, bit down on the shoe and nodded again at Naruto.

The blonde quickly gripped the splinter and pulled. It came free easy enough, but every millimetre of it felt like a thousand spikes tearing into Kurai's leg. His teeth clamped down on the heel of the sandal and he pounded the little wall he was leaned against with his fist, grunting against the makeshift gag. Then as quickly as it began the pain was reduced to a dull throb. Glancing down at his calf he saw his guess had been right, close to half the splinter was soaked in blood; he also saw that his leg was bleeding quite freely and pulling off his coat, held that firmly against the wound, grunting as the pressure made the pain flare up again.

Naruto removed his goggles and slid them up Kurai's leg, tightening the strap around the jacket to hold it in place, then started pulling Kurai's pant leg back down, securing the jacket completely. Kurai sighed, and pushed himself up from the ground and handed Naruto his shoe. The blonde quickly put it back on and pulled Kurai's arm over his shoulder to support him.

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Pushing the door to their apartment open with his free shoulder, Naruto dragged the half conscious Kurai into their home, locked the door behind him, and started for the bathroom. He lowered Kurai onto the toilet and opened a cupboard under the sink to grab their first aid kit.

"Kurai?" Naruto asked, shaking the black haired boys shoulder. He opened his eyes groggily. "What do I do, I don't know how to fix this." Naruto said, dumping the kit onto the ground.

Kurai frowned at their medical supplies and gestured weakly at a small spray bottle. "Use that to disinfect the wound, then…then take the tweezers and pull out any splinters you can see, if there are any, and…" Kurai stopped, his head falling back as he lost consciousness. Naruto shook him once, then twice, but he didn't wake up again.

Breathing deeply, Naruto pulled up Kurai's pant leg. "Okay Naruto, you can do this." He mumbled to himself, untying his google from around Kurai's jacket and pulling the blood-soaked article of clothing away. The wound was ragged and still bleeding fairly heavily, Naruto almost passed out himself at the sight of it in the light. Taking the spray bottle in one hand and gripping Kurai's ankle with the other, Naruto started squirting the medicine into the wound.

Kurai grunted in his semi-conscious state, trying to pull his leg away, but Naruto's firm grip kept him in place. The wound started to bubble and fizz as the disinfectant touched it. Pulling a towel off a small bar in the bathroom, Naruto wiped away the blood from Kurai's leg, then pressed the towel directly over the wound. "You stay right here, I'll be right back." Naruto told Kurai, who quite likely had no idea he was there to begin with.

Running over to the apartment's small closet, Naruto grabbed more towels and ran back into the bathroom. Pulling away the first towel, he replaced it with a fresh one, then took up the tweezers. Pulling the new towel away slightly, he was relieved to see it wasn't completely soaked in blood like the jacket had been. Leaning closer to examine the wound, Naruto couldn't see any splinters, so he took up the bandage instead.

Lifting Kurai's leg slightly, Naruto proceeded to wrap the bandage tightly around his calf, until he wouldn't see even a trace of blood through the layers. Sitting back on his haunches, Naruto sighed. "What the hell am I supposed to do now…" he muttered, Kurai of course didn't respond. Standing, Naruto pulled Kurai to his feet and hauled him into the living room, where he laid him down on the couch.

Standing, Naruto walked a dozen paces to their small kitchen and flipped on the kettle to make himself some comfort ramen. "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me." He mumbled, selecting a miso ramen.

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One year later

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"Naruto, do you really want to have to do this every year?" Kurai asked, staring out the eyes of the second Hokages monument. It was dreary out, gray sky and a waterlogged village. They had found the tunnels to the civilian safe house to be used in the event of an invasion and hunkered down there for Naruto's ninth birthday. After the event of his eighth birthday, the two boys had decided to prepare better so as to avoid any interaction with the citizens on that particular day.

Kurai's leg had thankfully healed without any permanent impairment, the only mark left was a large scar on his calf. Since then Naruto had been hospitalized twice for injuries sustained trying to out run mobs and one of which Kurai had also been caught in, leading to his own hospitalization. Of course those were only the times they had bothered to go to the hospital, in most cases Naruto either healed too fast for his wounds to become a problem or Kurai just didn't want to deal with the hospital staff. He hated hospitals.

"Well we don't really have much choice, we live here." The blonde responded, slurping on a cup of cold ramen. Kurai sighed, and prepared himself for how Naruto might react.

"We could, you know, not live here. The worlds a big place, we could find somewhere where the population doesn't hate us, somewhere we can live without fear."

Naruto dropped his fork in his ramen cup and stared at Kurai in disbelief, "What, this again; you wanna just up and move away, just leave everything and run like cowards!"

"I won't leave if you don't want too, but think about it Naruto, what kind of future do we have here. How long before someone hires an assassin to come after us? How long till some jonin decides to join in the mobs and take us out? I'm just saying we should take the opportunity while we have it rather than die like animals." Kurai finished, watching as Naruto mulled over his argument. It was a good sign that the blonde hadn't completely blown up like last time he suggested it.

"What about the old man, what would he think if we left? He'd be heartbroken."

Kurai shrugged, "Maybe, but he would also want more for us than this. Look at us, cowering in some hole waiting for our predators to move along, what kind of future is there in this." Seeing Naruto was seriously considering it, Kurai put the final nail in the coffin. "Imagine it, if we came back as people of status, if we came back with power; they would have no choice but to respect us." Kurai told his brother in all but blood, leaning in to lock eyes with him.

Naruto bit his lip, considering their options. He knew what Kurai said was possible, the villagers would never leave them in peace, he knew that deep down. He also knew Kurai wasn't being completely truthful, their odds of becoming powerful people without advanced ninja training were slim… But at least he could get away from all the hatred, and if Kurai was there it wouldn't be too bad…

"Fine." Naruto said, pushing himself to his feet, Kurai scrambled to his feet, following Naruto who was already on his way out of the monument safe house.

"R-really, just like that?" Kurai asked incredulously, he'd honestly expected more resistance.

"Just like that." Naruto replied, pushing open the door which would lead them back outside to the Hokage monument. Rain beat down on them as they stepped back into the open and began the long descent down the mountain via the staircase. "When we get home we should start packing, clothes, food, ninja tools, whatever else we may need." The blonde told him, not looking back.

Kurai nodded even though Naruto couldn't see it, still slightly shocked Naruto had agreed to leave so easily. Maybe he was just as tired of living like second class citizens as he was, or maybe he thought he would be left alone in the village someday if he didn't agree to go. Either way, Kurai was glad he had agreed.

The only thing left to do was put as much distance between themselves and the village as they could before Naruto changed his mind.

Sitting in the bed of a covered wagon heading out of the village, Naruto and Kurai felt a slight bump as they crossed out of the village through the west gate. Four backpacks sat in the wagon with them, all the belongings they wanted to bring with them. They were carrying their whole lives with them now. As they rolled away from their home, both boys stared out the back of the wagon, watching as the giant walls that had sheltered them their whole life grew smaller and smaller. Then, they crested a hill and the last they saw of their home village was the Hokage monument, and looking at the faces, they felt at peace with their decision.

"Well, guess we're really doing this, huh." Naruto said, and Kurai grunted in response, spreading a blanket over the bed of the wagon, and placing his clothing pack at the far end, making himself a fairly comfy spot to lay down.

"Guess so… don't worry, we'll come back some day."

"Heh, someday. Someday…" Naruto muttered, laying back on the makeshift bed and staring at the covering above them. "You really think we're going to come back."

Kurai grinned, "Who knows, maybe we'll find somewhere nice and we won't want to come back, or maybe we'll be back before this rain lets up. We're our own masters now, we can go where we want, do what we want."

"Hmm, our own little adventure huh." Naruto mumbled, as he drifted off, and Kurai sighed, watching as rain drops pattered off the road behind them.

'Our own little adventure…' Kurai mused.

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Two days later.

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"You summoned me Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi turned from the windows behind his desk and sat in his chair, pulling out his pipe. "Ah, Kakashi, you're on time for once, I figured I would have at least an hour." Hiruzan mused, packing his pipe.

"Well under the circumstance's I figured I should be prompt, please, give me my orders Hokage-sama." Kakashi all but begged, kneeling before the Hokage's desk. Though he was only twenty, Kakashi had long since proven himself to be the most capable ninja under his command, and Hiruzan knew there was no one else he could entrust this task too.

"As you must have already heard, Naruto and Kurai left the leaf village on the tenth, I would guess at what forced them out, but that isn't really important. What is important is bringing them back before they are captured, which is of course where you come in." He took a deep pull on his pipe, the smoke filling his lungs relaxed him a little as he contemplated what he should do, both officially and un-officially.

"Of course Hokage-sama, I'm ready to leave as soon as you order me too." Kakashi responded immediately, his face was concealed with both his cloth mask and his porcelain anbu mask, so the only thing Hiruzan could see was a grinning wolf. Instead of his eyes he relied on his hearing to interpret Kakashi's emotions.

He could honestly say he hadn't heard Kakashi so distraught since the Kyuubi attack, and why wouldn't he be, Naruto was the last remaining link between himself and Minato. It had greatly hurt the young prodigy when the council in their misguided attempt to punish Naruto had made sure Kakashi couldn't interact with him, and in the state Kakashi was in after Minato's death Hiruzan couldn't find a good enough reason to oppose them. Kakashi had very nearly been broken by his sensei's death. Naruto's current situation in the village wasn't good, but pawning him off on a mentally unstable teenager wouldn't have been any better… at least that's what he had always told himself.

"Officially I should be ordering you to pick three or four anbu, hunt him down and drag him back whether he wants to come or not… but as someone who cares for Naruto, I can't bear the thought of forcing him to stay and be miserable. Do you understand Kakashi, I only want what's best for him, but there was only so much I could do…" He trailed off, taking another pull on his pipe and sighing, a cloud of smoke billowing up around him.

"Hokage-sama, I-I don't follow, are you saying you don't want me to bring Naruto back?" Kakashi asked incredulously, and he couldn't help chuckling.

"Not at all Kakashi, I want Naruto brought back, and Kurai as well; I'm sure he put this idea in Naruto's head to begin with. I won't ask you to drag him back, because on some level, Naruto himself doesn't want to come back. I'm asking you to find them and look after them. If they still want to be ninja train them, I'll write up some documents to that effect and you'll have a free pass back into he village, if they don't anymore, then find somewhere that makes them happy." Hiruzan gestured for Kakashi to stand and come closer, which the silver haired ninja quickly did. Leaning forward Hiruzan took one of Kakashi's hands in his own, which had become frail in recent years. "I'm asking you to give Naruto a happy life Kakashi, Kurai too, the life they've been denied all these years. Naruto puts on a happy face sure, but underneath he's suffering; and Kurai… well, he'll help you, I think all it would take to make him happy is Naruto being happy."

"H-Hokage-sama, are… are you sure about this?" Kakahsi asked, incredulous, He'd never thought this day would come. Who would have thought it would take Naruto leaving the village for it to happen. (3)

"No, which is why I want you to leave right now, before I think about this anymore and change my mind." Hiruzan said, standing and walking across the room to his picture of the fourth Hokage and removed it from the wall revealing a small sealing array behind it. Biting his thumb to draw a bead of blood, Sarutobi wiped it across the seal, and from it, a scroll poofed into existence. "Take this." He ordered, handing the scroll to Kakashi, then glancing at the portrait of Minato, handed that over as well. "For Naruto, when you think he's ready. Now go Kakashi, they already have a two day head start."

"Yes sir, Hokage-sama!" Kakashi exclaimed, running towards the window, still open from his arrival. "I promise I won't let you down!" he finished, jumping out onto the rooftops towards his apartment, likely to pack the few personal items he owned.

Walking back over to the window, Hiruzan looked over his village and frowned, 'That makes three fine young men you've chased away this week.' He thought, angry over what his village had become.

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Two days later

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Naruto sat under the makeshift shelter Kurai had fashioned in the root system of a large oak tree. A small plastic sheet kept the light rain off them, while a low wall of earth kept the hollow from flooding. It wasn't much, but it had been their home the last couple days. It rarely rained in fire country, but when it did it usually lasted half a week or so, and unfortunately they had left on the first day of it.

Still, he couldn't say he really regretted the decision to leave, going two whole days without being called a demon brat or having something thrown at him was a nice change of pace. He and Kurai had also sparred several times a day, which he greatly enjoyed. Even if he was no longer a leaf academy student, he still wanted to someday become a leaf ninja, and he'd keep training till he was strong enough to return and show all those stupid villagers how powerful he was. They would have no choice but to respect him then!

A rustle from outside the hollow brought him out of his musings and leaning out he saw Kurai walking towards him, holding a chubby rabbit in his hand. Naruto was grateful they had done so many outdoor survival exercises that covered living in the wild, shame he hadn't paid much attention; fortunately Kurai had.

"He looks like a plump little guy." Naruto called, crawling up and out of the burrow.

"Yeah, ran pretty fast too, he almost got away." The dark haired boy responded, hunkering down on a relatively dry area and drawing a knife to begin skinning the animal. "Can you get some of the dry wood and get a fire ready?" he asked.

Nodding to him Naruto ducked back into the hollow and came back out with an armful of deadwood, which he arranged on a dry spot under the trees large branches. "I'll grab the spit as well." Naruto told Kurai who had almost finished skinning the rabbit.

"Sure, I can finish off this fire I guess." Kurai replied, shuffling over towards the pile of wood and gathering chakra for the most basic of fire jutsu, used almost entirely for the purpose of lighting campfires. Exhaling, a small stream of fire came from his mouth and lit the dry wood easily.

'I should really learn that jutsu soon…' Naruto mused, reaching into the burrow and withdrawing a rough stake and two vaguely Y shaped branches. A few moments later the rabbit sizzled over a crackling fire, which Kurai crouched beside, attempting to dry his moist clothes.

"So, where should we go Naruto?" Kurai asked him, turning the rabbit slowly. "Is there anything you wanna see?"

Naruto crossed his arms and frowned, "Well… I've always sorta wanted to see the ocean…"

Kurai nodded in agreement, "Alright, that's a good first goal… to get to the sea we should go due west, that'll take us to the coast eventually." He explained, then looked up into the dreary sky, "Whenever this rain stops we can use the sun to find which way we need to go" he finished, and Naruto smiled. It really was a good thing Kurai had paid so much attention in class, as he would have to teach him to survive in the wild.

For a while they just sat in silence, watching the rabbit slowly turn brown in the flames. Then as the rabbit neared completion, Naruto felt something was wrong. He couldn't quite place it, but he also knew he wasn't imagining things as Kurai had tensed almost simultaneously. An instant later, before either of them could react, an anbu member jumped from a nearby tree and landed before them in a crouch, head bowed. He was a skinny fellow, with long limbs and super spiky hair silver hair.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Kurai Uzumaki, I've been sent here by the third Hokage to escort you-"

"We aren't going back without a fight." Naruto growled, rising to his feet, next to him Kurai did the same, subtly drawing his knife. Naruto's felt for his, then noticed it was on the ground next to where he had been sitting. 'Crap…' Before either of them could make another move the anbu spoke again.

"Ah, well in that case, I've been ordered by the third Hokage to keep an eye on you during your journey. Consider me at your service." Naruto looked at Kurai incredulously, his adoptive brother shrugged back, clearly just as confused as he was.

"Ah… anbu-san, why would the third send you to just watch over us; we figured he would have sent out a squad to drag us back or something?" Naruto asked, relaxing a little, 'I guess the old man still has our back after all…'

"Hokage-sama was originally going to do that yes, but he apparently would rather the two of you be happy than in the village. I was merely sent to keep you two safe untill you decide to return." The anbu replied, running a hand through his gravity defying hair. The man looked at the roasting rabbit and his stomach growled quietly.

Naruto heard this and gestured at the rabbit, "You can have some if you like… what's your name anyway anbu-san?" Naruto asked, sitting back down and taking some meat for himself.

The anbu sat across from them and gently pulled off a chunk of meat from the spit, then popped it into his mouth. Naruto was shocked at the speed in which the man had eaten, he hadn't even seen his face. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, my rank is anbu captain." Naruto and Kurai looked at each other incredulously, the old man had really pulled out all the stops sending an anbu captain to travel with them.

Kurai slid his knife back into his kunai holster, but didn't sit down, and Naruto sighed, His brother was always so high strung. Leaning forward Naruto plucked a piece of meat from the carcass "Why did the Hokage send you in particular? Was there a specific reason?" Kurai asked, and Naruto saw the anbu seemingly tense a little.

"I uh… I volunteered for the mission." Kakashi answered, and Kurai frowned.

"You volunteered? Why?"

"Well… I umm… Look, I knew Naruto's mother and uh… I owed her a debt so I'm here to pay it back." Naruto's eyes widened as he heard this man had known his mother. Finally, he could at least find out a name after all these years.

"Please, tell me about her!" Naruto begged, shooting to his feet, "Please, I don't know anything about her Kakashi-san, please tell me!"

Kakashi sighed, and reached up to pull his anbu mask off, leaving him in just his cloth mask and headband. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki, and uh, well… she was a difficult woman. She was a lot like you, always playing pranks and causing trouble somewhere. She loved ramen, and she had the most vibrant red hair." Naruto soaked up every word with glee, staring into Kakashi's single, black eye.

"What about Naruto's father?" Kurai asked, and Naruto once again saw Kakashi tense subtly.

Kakashi rubbed his chin, clearly considering what he was gonna say carefully. "Naruto's father was… he was a good man, strong, smart, charismatic; and generous, he was always trying to help someone." The jonin explained fondly, and Naruto had a suspicion that this strange man had been closer to his father than his mother.

"So you knew them pretty well then?" Naruto asked, and after a moment the jonin nodded.

"Yes I suppose you could say that, they… they were incredible people." Naruto smiled, finally, for the first time he felt a real connection to the parents he had never known. He had always had a burning desire to learn about his family, perhaps more intense than his desire to become Hokage. It hadn't been as strong since Kurai became part of his family, but it was always there, at the back of his mind.

Kurai finally sat down next to Naruto as the sky began to darken, and Naruto was finally sure leaving the village had been a good decision, within three days it had already led to finding out about his parents, he could only imagine what the next three days would bring.

His attention returned to Kakashi as the anbu yawned loudly, and for the first time Naruto noticed how dishevelled the man looked. "How long did it take you to catch up to us Kakashi-san?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged, "Took me half a day to find your trail, another full day of running to catch up… you two made good time." The jonin told them, laying down next to the fire. A moment later he had passed out and Kurai shook his head at the supposedly elite ninja.

"Humph, that was fast. What do you think Naruto, should we take him along?" Kurai asked turning to face him. Naruto shrugged and leaned back against the tree trunk just behind them.

"May as well, maybe he can even train us or something, then we'll get super-strong super-fast!" he exclaimed, already imagining the awesome jutsu Kakashi could teach them. Yawning, Naruto's tore off another juicy morsel of rabbit and looked up at the night sky, and he felt Kurai sit next to him, close enough that he could feel the dark haired boy's warmth.

'This adventure is shaping up to be really fun.' He mused, staring at the stars while Kurai drifted to sleep. 'I wonder what the ocean will be like?' Naruto wondered, closing his eyes and fall asleep himself.

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AN: Alright so no dragon age stuff this chapter, but next chapter will be Naruto, Kurai and Kakashi leaving the elemental nations on their way to Thedas. Now there are a number of ways the beginning of this story could go, of course they all end up in the same place, Ostagar, just like the origin stories.

So… I don't know who I'm going to pair Naruto with yet, Kurai and Morrigan is a for sure thing though, after that pairings will depend on how many wardens I write in, which will again depend on what kind of response this pilot chapter gets

Hiroshi Satou is a combination of the most common Japanese first and last names, to really show that this ordinary guy's action changed something.

Kurai translates to dark, which is sorta a strange name for a person

I've always been a fan of stories where Kakashi raises Naruto, or is at least involved in his childhood before he becomes his sensei.


	2. Balanced on a Daggers Edge

The Light and Dark of Thedas, CH.2: Balanced on a Daggers Edge

Demonkitteh

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AN: Alrighty so here's chapter two, this story reached 500 views today; so here's another chapter in honour of that.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto or Dragon Age, the OC's of course are my own ideas.

(Also contains scenes of torture, so there's your advisory on that. If you have a problem with that, it'll be marked and you can skip past it… I wouldn't recommend it though as it'll give a good view into Kurai's personality)

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"How much further is the ocean Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, shrugging his pack higher on his shoulders and striding forward to get ahead of the jonin. Kurai smiled at his adoptive brother, Naruto had already grown quite close to the older ninja, though he had only travelled with them for a little over a week. Kurai had to admit, it was nice to have someone as experienced as Kakashi said he was. Looking back he had to admit their hasty exit from the village left much to be desired. But with someone like Kakashi to mentor them the possibilities were endless, provided he was as strong as he claimed.

"It's not too far ahead, you should be able to smell the seawater soon. I already can… it's been forever since I've seen the ocean." Kakashi mumbled, Naruto sniffed deeply and frowned.

"I don't smell anything Kakashi, your sense of smell must be incredible." Naruto gushed, Kakashi turned his head and eye-smiled down at the blonde.

"I'm using chakra to enhance my sense of smell, I could teach you if you want." The anbu offered, and Naruto nodded enthusiastically, Kakashi looked back over his shoulder at him, "Kurai, would you like to learn as well?"

"Sure, may as well do something productive." Kurai replied, 'Finally, a useful skill, not like most of that academy nonsense' Kakashi nodded, and touched his index finger to his nose.

"The theory behind the technique is simple, by focusing chakra to the nose, ears, or even eyes; one can increase sensory perception related to that part of the body. Understand?" Kakashi asked, Kurai nodded, but Naruto looked a little confused, so Kakashi went on, "Perhaps in your case Naruto, it'll be easier to understand if you do it, focus a little chakra to your nose."

Kurai watched as Naruto stopped in the middle of the road and formed a ram seal, closing his eyes the blonde began to channel his chakra. A moment later Kakashi pinched Naruto's nose shut, eye smiling. The blonde looked up at him questioningly.

"Less than that, that much would probably make you pass out from sensory overload. Just a small amount of chakra will do." Naruto's eyes narrowed, and after a few seconds, Kakashi removed his hand and Naruto inhaled through his nose deeply. A moment later the blonde's eyes snapped open.

"It's salty! Is that the ocean?" Naruto exclaimed, to which Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, its salt water as opposed to fresh, so you can't drink it. The vast majority of water is salt water in oceans." Kakashi explained, while Naruto soaked up every word. Meanwhile Kurai followed Kakashi's instructions and focused a small amount of chakra to his nose, and immediately noticed a difference, pushing a little more chakra to his nose, Kurai smelt the salty sea and sighed. 'Hmm, it's different… but not bad.'

Kurai's ears perked up as Kakashi continued his impromptu lesson on chakra control, "…With practice you can focus chakra to any part of your body and empower it, to your legs to run faster, or your arms to strike harder."

'That could be useful… Having this guy come along just gets better and better.' Kurai thought, following as Naruto and Kakashi began walking again.

"Wow, really Kakashi-sensei, will you teach us how to do that as well?" Naruto exclaimed, and Kakashi nodded, eye smiling even wider at the blonde. The road began to gently slope upwards, leading to a high crest far down the road, moving towards it, Kurai felt a sort of excitement. He felt that from the top of that crest he would be able to see the ocean, and he was thrilled that their first self-imposed quest was nearly complete.

"Hey Kurai, what should we do once we get to the ocean? We could try fishing, or we could learn to swim? I wonder what a port town is like… do you think it'll be big?" Naruto babbled, and Kurai smiled at the blonde's excitement. He had no idea what they would do when they reached the ocean, but that didn't matter, they would find something to occupy themselves with.

Getting closer to the crest of the hill, Kurai sped up a little, and reaching the top of the rise, looked out on a vast landscape below him. A rolling forest covered much of the land in a long slope, and Kurai realised that the long slope had not led them to the top of a hill, but rather the peak of a small mountain; and the realization made him even more excited. Beyond the forest, he saw a wide blue stretch of water, reaching as far as he could see; even from such a high vantage. Between the water and the trees, Kurai could make out a large sprawling city on the waterfront, it was hard to tell from such a distance, but he estimated the settlement to be at least as large as the leaf village.

A moment later Naruto joined him at the crest of the hill and gasped at the vista before them, "Oh wow, it goes on so far! I wonder how far?" Naruto exclaimed, as Kakashi joined them.

"No one knows how far it goes, but it is vast, perhaps many times larger than the elemental nations." Kakashi explained, as he began walking down the long, gently sloped path towards the sea.

After a moment Naruto followed him, leaving Kurai to momentarily stand alone at the top of the hill. 'No one knows how vast the ocean is huh… I wonder just what sorts of amazing things lie under something so immense.' Kurai wondered, following the others down the path.

/ / / / / / / / /

Naruto looked around in awe at the bustling city before him; all around the inhabitants bustled, buying and selling in a vast market. Everywhere there seemed to be exotic goods, spices, fabrics, even weapons. Next to him Kurai took it in with his mask of calm indifference, but Naruto could see in his eyes that he was excited, or at least Kurai's version of excited. Kakashi didn't seem all that interested, but he was a well-travelled ninja, he'd probably seen a hundred towns like this.

The city stood two levels high, the first built into the slope of the hill, perhaps one-hundred feet above the lower level and a thousand meters from the water. The first level consisted mostly of houses, shops and massive hotels, likely to cater to the many people who seemed to be simply trading in the port.

Naruto took another deep breath of sea air, revelling in the new sensation it brought. He was happy they had decided to travel, every milestone in their adventure was exciting. He felt a yearning, he couldn't quite place it, but some part of him felt unfulfilled with stopping just at the edge of the ocean, some part of him wanted to go beyond it.

Before he could think on it any further, his thoughts were interrupted by Kurai, who had started walking into the throng of people. Naruto followed hastily, trailing behind Kurai as he headed towards the water front. Kakashi shuffled along behind him; the silver haired man had pulled a bright orange book from his equipment pouch and his single visible eye was fixated on it.

Naruto liked the older ninja.

Kakashi had treated him fairly since their meeting, something the villagers had never done; and it instantly won the man Naruto's respect. The older ninja had even taught him a new technique of his own accord. Naruto mentally thanked the old man for sending someone like Kakashi to assist them on their journey.

As they got closer to the docks, Naruto began to notice a much greater bustle, all of which seemed to lead towards the northern side of town. "Hey Kurai!" Naruto called over the din of the crowd, and when the dark haired boy turned to face him, Naruto pointed towards the flow of people. "Wanna check out what's happening down there?" He asked, and Kurai shrugged, but started walking with the flow of people.

As they got closer to the waterfront, the crowd became larger, and pushing past a large group, Naruto and Kurai arrived at a large platform overlooking the lower level, built on the steepest section of what could only be considered a mountain from the seaward side. From this new vantage point, Kurai and Naruto looked down on the docks in wonder. From the water to the just under the platform was a sprawling jungle of market stalls, filled with perhaps thousands of people, jostling each other as they shopped.

As exciting as the market was, the crowd's attention was not focused on a sight they surely saw every day, but a massive ship slowly drifting towards the shore. Naruto noticed that this ship looked vastly different than the others in the port, both in size and shape. While the other ships were long and low, with square sails. The ship coming from the sea was different, it was much larger than any ship in the port; many times taller than the merchant ships, and longer as well. The people gathered around looked on at the vessel anxiously.

"Kurai?" Naruto asked, "What do you thinks going on?"

Kurai bit the inside of his cheek in thought, "I don't have the faintest idea, but I'm sure it'll be interesting. What do you think Kakashi?" Kurai asked, and the older ninja looked up from his book at the shit, and raised an eyebrow.

"I've never seen a ship like that before… the only thing in that direction is the Land of Mist. Perhaps it's a vessel from Kiri?" Kakashi responded, going back to his book, Naruto heard the man giggle a little, and concluded he was uninterested in the mystery ship. This did nothing to hamper his own excitement.

"Let's get closer!" Naruto exclaimed, pushing through the crowd to reach a winding path, which would lead them down to the water. Looking over the water as he began his descent, Naruto saw that the ship had almost reached the shore, and he could even make out the sailors on the deck, who moved like ants over the deck, reading the ship to dock.

/ / / / / / / / / /

As they neared the shore, Kurai noted that people were becoming more and more anxious; and as they got closer to the ship, Kurai became more curious. Earlier he had wondered what could lie underneath the vast ocean but now he wondered if perhaps this ship had come from beyond the elemental nations, across the great sea.

He was curious as to what the sailors would be like, if indeed they did come from across the sea. They likely wouldn't speak the common tongue, and their customs would undoubtedly be different. It would be fascinating to see how these people behaved.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Kurai asked, looking up at the anbu, "Is there a chance this ship is from over the ocean?"

Kakashi sighed and placed his book back in his equipment pouch, "Well… anything's possible I suppose, but I'd say it's unlikely." The masked ninja responded, "If I had to guess, it's probably just some new ship design that hasn't been seen around here before. Often times the simplest explanation turns out to be true."

"Hmm." Kurai responded, logically speaking he knew there was very little chance some vessel from a land across the ocean had chosen just now to appear, but some childish part of him which he had ruthlessly squashed long ago, hoped for the chance at adventure the thought proposed.

Arriving at the docks, about fifty meters from the vessel, Kurai looked in awe at how large the ship really was. Craning his neck to look up at the desks, Kurai saw half a dozen heavily muscled men leaning over the rail to look down at him. They all had relieved smiles on their faces, waving at the people gathered around, calling something out to them. The onlookers muttered to each other, confused about whatever language the sailors spoke.

A few of the sailors threw lines down to the onlookers, who pulled them in and secured the boat to the dock, no translation was needed here, the sailors wanted to come ashore. A large man, wearing a red cloak and loose cotton clothing, rappelled down one of these ropes; landing before the onlookers. The man's hair was coal black, peppered lightly with gray, and he wore his beard and mustache short, tightly cropped. He addressed the crowd loudly, then frowned at the questioning looks he got back.

A man near Kurai cupped his hand and shouted, "Can you understand us? Because we don't know what you're saying." Kurai watched as the large sailors frown deepened. Behind him, his men were lowering a rope ladder, and a few climbed down to stand with what Kurai could only assume was their captain. One of the men leaned in to whisper to the bearded man who nodded, then reached into a pocket of his coat and withdrew a cloth pouch. Probing two fingers into the pouch the man withdrew a small silver coin and held it up to the crowd; then walking a few dozen paces, the crowd of onlookers parting around him, he reached a fishmongers stall and held up one of the man's catch. Lifting the coin and the fish in the air the man addressed the crowd once again.

A few people looked confused, but the man who presumably owned the stall stepped over to the man and handed him another fish, the captain nodded approvingly and gave the man the coin. The fish monger addressed the crowd, biting the coin "I think they're here to trade. This is pure silver." The man assured, pulling the coin from his mouth. From the ship, crates and barrels were unloaded and one of the men pried the top of one of the barrels, revealing bolts of fabric, and from the crates, pottery.

By this point much of the crowds was beginning to disperse, the initial excitement wearing off. A few people, merchants probably, began to awkwardly attempt to trade with the men, who gestured at the food venders stall eagerly. Looking closer at them Kurai noticed they all looked a little emaciated; not surprising considering the distance a journey from another land would have to be.

"I stand corrected." Kakashi mumbled behind him, and Kurai turned to see his single eye had widened greatly, taking in the foreigners. "Pay close attention, this is unprecedented; History in the making." The masked ninja advised, both of them watching as Naruto moved closer to the sailors, openly gawking at them.

"Hmm, glad we're here to see it." Kurai replied, moving to the impromptu stall the newcomers had set up, examining a small box of jewelled rings with a few others. One man picked a ring up and examined it, "Not bad, pretty good actually." He mused, replacing the ring in the box and moving off, likely to find something he could use to barter. No actual transactions had been made as far as Kurai could tell, but it seemed many traders were merely scouting the merchandise.

"Wow Kurai! Do you think we could buy some stuff? We have plenty of money saved up." Naruto asked, holding up a double edged dagger, straight on both sides and coming to a deadly point. The blade was unadorned, the blade had a reddish tint to it, which shined in the afternoon sun.

"_Redsteel" _a foreigner said from behind the row of wears, smiling enthusiastically, pointing at the knife

"Well… I doubt they'll take money for it… but if we looked around we might be able to find something to trade…" Kurai answered, taking the dagger and holding it out to the man. The man took it, and muttered something, but Kurai simply shook his head and wrapped the man's fingers around the hilt. Kurai then pointed to himself, then at the dagger, then to himself; before putting his hand out in the sign for stop. The man narrowed his eyes at him, then slowly placed the dagger off to the side of the others, and mimicked the stop sign, then looked at Kurai quizzically.

Satisfied the man wouldn't sell the knife, Kurai gestured for Naruto to follow him towards the markets. "Make sure you don't sell that!" Naruto called back to the man, who again did the stop sign to the knife.

The group stopped at a cross between three lanes in the market and Kurai gestured at the stall around them "Now Naruto, what do you think we should trade for the knife?" Kurai asked, and Naruto scrunched his face in concentration.

"Well… It should be something they want right? Maybe… food?" Naruto said slowly, and Kurai nodded.

"Sure, that could work. But how much food is the dagger worth?"

"I-I don't know… maybe we should use something else… gold? Everyone wants gold right?" Naruto asked, and Kurai nodded.

"Let's find a smith or something I guess; Kami knows how anyone around here finds anything. Place is a damn jungle…" Kurai muttered, leading Naruto down one of the lanes. Kakashi followed behind them, his nose buried in his book, seemingly uncaring.

/ / / / / / / / / /

Kakashi frowned behind his mask, following behind his charges; they were being tailed exceptionally well by someone, or rather someone's his instincts told him clearly. 'At least three… but from where, Konoha? A foreign nation? Certainly possible considering this is a trading hub between mist, lighting and the fire nation" Kakashi sighed audibly, 'I suppose I'll have to eliminate them...' Placing his book back in his equipment pouch, Kakashi removed his other hand from his pocket and looked around.

The two tailors still in his sight vanished into the crowd, and Kakashi lengthened his stride to come between Kurai and Naruto, then gestured at the border between the stalls and the first row of actual shops; two story, wooden buildings. "We might be able to find a smith over there, he would need room for his forge and such."

Kurai looked back at him with those creepy, blank eyes of his and nodded, "Good idea Kakashi, come on Naruto, we should hurry." Kurai told the blonde, who nodded enthusiastically.

"I'll catch up with you two later, I'm gonna look around a little." He told them, and leaned in over Kurai's shoulder slightly, "Keep your guard up, you never know in cities like this." Kakashi warned, and Kakashi saw the boys head incline slightly. Satisfied that Kurai would be able to keep things under control, Kakashi turned down a side street and walked behind a market stall. Looking around, he was satisfied no one was watching him and with a poof of smoke transformed into an average looking man dressed in plain beige cotton clothing.

Walking parallel to Naruto and Kurai on another street, Kakashi looked through the tangle of people, then melding into a large group, turned back towards the street Naruto and Kurai were on. Blending into the flow of shoppers, he followed his charges, keeping an eye out for anyone paying to much attention to the Uzumaki's.

Kakashi had a moment of déjà vu at this, thinking back to nearly a decade ago when his sensei had asked him to tail Naruto's mother while she was pregnant. It was only fitting that he should continue to protect the boy now as he had then, he owed Minato-sensei that much at least.

He was glad, despite the fact that he was already hunting down assassins less than a week into his guardianship of the boys; glad that he could finally have a role in his sensei's son's life. The very same man who had been almost a father to him after his own father's suicide.

Even had the third not given him this mission, Kakashi was sure he would have taken off after Naruto eventually. He had let too many people down to simply leave his sensei's legacy to wander the elemental nation with only his adoptive, slightly psychotic brother, as protection.

Moving steadily closer to one of the men he had pegged as a tail earlier, he prepared to neutralize the man. He wore dark clothes, and that was all the opportunity Kakashi needed. Throwing an arm around the man shoulder, cutting off his windpipe while jamming a kunai in the would-be assassins aorta, his dark clothing masking the blood flowing from his wound; Kakashi called out joyously, "Hey, Hideki, long time no see buddy!" Maneuvering the slightly struggling man off the main street, under the guise of merely roughhousing, and into a relatively secluded area, Kakashi unceremoniously let the body drop behind a stack of rice bags. Not missing a beat, he maneuvered past another shop and came out on the parallel street once again.

Following the flow of people, he rushed forward, getting ahead of Naruto and Kurai, who were by now heading towards the buildings he had indicated earlier, which was a less populated area. Seeing a man leaning against a wall at the far end of a narrow alleyway between two shops, Kakashi noticed the way the man's head turned to follow his charges and moved down the alley. Creeping directly behind the man, Kakashi put him in a choke hold and dragged him out of sight. Kakashi's eyes widened as he felt the man's throat twitch and he shoved his fist into the man's mouth, getting hold of his tongue. "No suicide pill for you today my friend." Kakashi whispered in the man's ear, feeling around for the fake molar that contained the capsule. The man attempted to bite his hand, but the leather of his glove kept him from doing any damage. Withdrawing his hand with the pill, Kakashi kicked his captive in the back of his knee and gripping the back of his head, slammed him face first into the ground hard enough to knock him out.

Sitting the man against the wall, Kakashi sighed, "I'll be back for you my friend, and then we can have ourselves a long chat." Kakashi said lightly, patting the man on his cheek a few times.

Peeking out at the main street from his victims last vantage point, and saw Naruto and Kurai speaking to a man sitting next to an anvil, hammering a red hot, vaguely sword shaped bit of metal. A tall, dark skinned man stopped at a weapons rack next to his charges and browsed. 'Kumo ninja… He's bold…' Kakashi mused. The black smith gestured around the corner, and the Uzumaki's bowed in thanks and walked out of sight, a moment later the dark skinned man followed. Smiling to himself, Kakashi began to follow, moving even farther from the majority of the shoppers.

Naruto and Kurai did an excellent job unintentionally leading the man towards his capture. Turning down two more streets, Kakashi saw the man draw three shurikan from his pockets and moved quickly, crossing the dozen paces between himself and the Kumo assassin, Kakashi grabbed the man's wrist, preventing him from throwing the ninja stars while simultaneously wrapping his free arm around the man's throat.

The would-be assassin grunted and bucked, drawing Naruto and Kurai attention. The boys turned and he eye smiled at them as he cut off the flow of oxygen to the ninja's brain. "Hey guys." He greeted cheerfully, lowering the man to the ground.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, running over wide eyed, staring at the unconscious man. Kurai walked over slower, seemingly unfazed by the potential assassin.

"How many were there?" The black haired boy asked, prodding the man with the tip of his shoe.

"Three that I noticed, there might be more lurking around though." He informed them, grabbing the man under the shoulders and pulling him into the open door of a weapons shop. The owner had a moment to be surprised and call out before Kakashi cast a genjutsu on him, knocking him out. "Close the door behind you would ya Naruto, I'll check if there's anyone upstairs, Kurai keep an eye on our friend here Kurai."

Moving to the stairs at the back of the building, Kakashi climbed a few steps and looked in at a small apartment above the shop. 'Looks like the owners the only one who lives here, perfect.' Walking back over to his genin, Kakashi handed Kurai a spool of ninja wire. "Tie this guy up for me would you, nice and tight. I'm gonna go grab the other one. Stay inside." Kakashi ordered, slipping back outside.

/ / / / / / / /

(Torture Begins)

/ / / / / / / /

Kurai threw a pail of water in the dark skinned man's face, snapping him awake. He took some enjoyment in the look of shock on his face as he woke up, strapped to a chair and gagged. Brought back so many nice memories. Placing his hand on the suspected Kumo ninja's forehead, Kurai tilted his head back and leaned in close to his ear.

"Now, you have two options." This was delivered in the flat, expressionless tone Kurai had mastered over years of intimidating people during his days on the streets of Konoha "The first is of course you talk to me, tell me who sent you and why they want us dead. The second is I turn you over to our body guard, you might recognize him." Using his grip on the man's skull, Kurai turned his head to face Kakashi.

He grinned as the ninja's eyes widened, "Mhmm! Mhmmh!" He struggled, clearly familiar with Kakashi's reputation as one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha.

Kakashi walked across the room and eye smiled at their prisoner, "Keep in mind, you're going to die either way. You at least have control over how much pain you endure before you die." The anbu said, his voice oddly cheerful, and Kurai was glad Naruto was out with a clone of Kakashi's purchasing the gold they would trade for his dagger. Naruto was still too innocent to see something like this. He was a different story, he had never felt more alive than during an interrogation like this. He would admit he had some sadistic tendencies, but hey, who didn't.

"Make this easy on yourself, you don't owe your employer anything anymore." Kurai finished, drawing a kunai and running it across the bound man's throat, leaving a faint trail of blood.

"I'm going to remove your gag, don't yell, or I'll have to hurt you. Understood?" Kakashi asked, and the man reluctantly nodded. Kurai reveled in the fear the man was showing. Kakashi pulled the waded cloth from the man's mouth and he took a deep breath now that the obstruction was removed. "Now tell me, who sent you? The Raikage?" The masked ninja asked.

The Kumo ninja swallowed heavily and his eyes darted between them. First looking into Kakashi's single revealed eye, then darting to his own cold blue ones, likely seeking mercy from what he believed to be the softest of the pair. In response Kurai slammed his knife into the man's hand, bound to the armrest of the chair.

Kakashi slapped a hand over the Kumo assassin's mouth as he screamed in pain. "Now what did I say about yelling?" Kakashi questioned, plugging the man's nose and depriving him of oxygen till his feet kicked in panic. Kakashi moved away and the man gasped, glaring at both of them.

"Fuck it, Fine, not like it matters anymore anyway. Yes, okay; the Raikage sent me and a few others here when our spies reported the Kyuubi jinchuriki had defected. Everyone's scrambling over this, once word spreads sleeper agents from all the nations, not just Kumo will be hunting you in this damn maze of a city." The man growled, spitting at Kakashi. Kurai smashed him in the jaw with the ring end of his kunai.

"How many from Kumo are in the city?" Kakashi asked, grimacing at the wet spot on his flak jacket.

"Me, and one other. There are more in the other ports, they should be here soon. Then you'll be in my position!" The man laughed, "The thought of it will give me comfort in the Shinigami's belly, the thought that soon both of you will join me there." Kakashi slapped the man, open palm, across the face.

"How long till they get here? Kakashi asked.

"A few days." The man replied, spitting up mouthful of blood, though he had learnt his lesson and spat it between his feet.

Kakashi nodded, and drew his own kunai, "Good, now as a reward, a mostly painless death. I appreciate your professionalism in this matter." Kakashi told the man formally, bowing to him and drawing his own Kunai. Seeing his opportunity, Kurai jammed his knife into the man's throat, severing his jugular, glancing at Kakashi when the anbu recoiled in shock.

"Kurai… I-I could have done that…" Kakashi stammered, caught off guard by the unexpected move.

Looking up at the ninja, Kurai replied evenly, "I'm sure you could have. I wanted too though, you can have the next one if you like." He responded, raising an eyebrow at the shock in the ninja's eye. "What?"

"T-this isn't your first kill… is it?" Kakashi asked, and Kurai momentarily couldn't place the man's tone. A moment later he realised what it was, horror. The one-eyed ninja was horrified at the knowledge he had killed before. The dregs of society only of course, the old man would have put his foot down at anything else.

/ / / / / / / / / /

Flashback

/ / / / / / / / / /

He'd taken his first lives a year prior, Impulsive and completely by chance. He'd gone shopping alone that day, he could recall everything about it down to every item he had purchased; everything was burned in his mind's eye. One of his fondest memories. Naruto was stuck in detention for skipping class that day, and on his way to pick Naruto up after dropping the groceries off, he'd happened to observe a girl in his class, Ino Yamanaka, being chased by three men. Curious he had followed and when he caught up and found they had cornered the girl in a dead end alley, he moved closer, applying his admittedly basic ninja training, he had snuck closer.

"She's cute, eh Marima?" one of the men asked, and the other grunted in agreement, his hand moving towards his belt. In front of them Ino coward, curling into the fetal position.

'Pedophiles…' Kurai thought venomously, drawing two kunai from his equipment pouch. He remembered stepping towards the men, and he remembered burying his knives in each of their spines, above the shoulders, turning both of them into quadriplegics. Their leader followed a moment later, as Kurai jumped, landed on his back and slit his throat.

Striding past the prone men, he had picked Ino up bridal style and carried her out of the alley, then turned and finished off the two men. Upon returning to the street, he saw Ino looking up at him adoringly, a splash of blood running diagonally across her face. He ran the cuff of his sleeve over her face, cleaning the blood away; when he'd looked at that blood coating his sleeve and hands, the most glorious euphoria came over him. He felt the absence of an urge he had only noticed now that it wasn't there. In a daze he led Ino towards the Hokage tower, to hand her off to the old man. He had later learned he was smiling the entire trip

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Flashback end

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

That feeling stayed with him for days, then the urge had crept back, at the edge of his mind. He'd only had the chance to sate it once since that day, and after a momentary relief the urge had returned stronger. It was one of the few things he had religiously guarded from Naruto, with good reason. He knew he was fucked up, he tried to shelter Naruto from that; but in these moments, he could afford to indulge a little.

Turning to address Kakashi, Kurai answered, "No, it's not, but that doesn't really matter does it. If Naruto knew he'd be devastated, and neither of us want that now; do we?" Kurai asked, watching as Kakashi's eye narrowed. The anbu would be watching him close from now on, but this had to come out. It was better to get it out of the way while Naruto wasn't around.

"I suppose he would… don't think this is over though. We will talk about this again." Kakashi promised.

"Fine, provided it stays between us I have no problem with discussing it when we have more time. For now we should wake this other captive of yours." Kurai finished, moving across the room to their other prisoner.

Kakashi grunted, but followed without complaint.

Throwing a pail of water on the second captive, Kurai grinned to himself.

'Let's see if this one's as co-operative as the other?" He mused.

/ / / / / / / / /

(You may return, the graphic scenes are over… for now; MUHAHAHAHAH, 'ahem' sorry about that)

/ / / / / / / /

It was nearing dusk as Naruto and Kakashi's clone turned onto the main street of the market which lead towards the port. After Kakashi had foiled the assassins attempt on his life, he had gone with what the anbu called a shadow clone to purchase his bargaining chip and they were now hoping to return to the docks before the sailors packed up.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what do you think those guys on the boat are gonna do now?" Naruto asked, looking up at the silver haired man who had become his guardian. The man carried his small gold ingot, wrapped in cloth. Naruto was excited to purchase the cool knife he had seen on display, the way it almost glowed a faint red had instantly caught his eye and he knew he had to have it. It was rare he felt a desire like that, but when he did, nothing stopped him.

"Well… they'll probably restock, trade a little and learn what they can, then move on. I'm sure they're eager to get home with the news they found a new continent. The sea charts or whatever should be worth a fortune." The anbu answered, which made Naruto frown.

"Imagine how cool it must be for them, seeing a whole new world basically!" He exclaimed, grinning when Kakashi chuckled, nodding in agreement. "I wonder what they think of us…?"Naruto mused.

Kakashi grunted, "They probably think we're strange, just like most of the people in town probably think they're strange." The anbu replied, then shrugged. "There's also the language barrier to consider." Kakashi added as an afterthought.

Naruto frowned, "What's a language barrier?" Naruto asked, speeding up a little as they came within sight of the docks.

Kakashi lengthened his stride to keep up and hummed in thought. "Well… you know how we couldn't understand the guys on the boat?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto nodded. "That's a language barrier, when two groups don't speak the same language. There are several nations in the far south that speak different languages then we do as well." The anbu explained, and Naruto found it actually made sense.

In less than a week, the anbu had been a bettor teacher than anyone at the academy, with the possible exception of Iruka, who had done what he could without showing blatant favouritism. More and more Naruto was realizing how much better life was without being smothered by hatred every day. Aside from the attempt on his life, things were going quite well.

Absently he realized how sad it was that he could still consider a day good after someone had tried to kill him.

Before he could think on this any further, the foreign venders came into view, and his only thought was finally getting his hands on that dagger. Running towards the man Kurai had given the dagger to for safe keeping, Naruto grinned at the recognition on the man's face.

"_Dagger?" _The man said, having picked up the word from one of the people he had traded with over the day.

"Yes, the dagger." Naruto replied, his smile growing wider as the man reached rummaged behind a stack of crates and returned with the redsteel knife.

"_Trade?" _The man asked, and Naruto nodded, gesturing at the package in Kakashi's hand. The one eyed ninja placed it on the makeshift table made of crates and unwrapped it, revealing a one pound golden ingot, the man's eyes widened, and he hefted the metal experimentally. Apparently satisfied, he hand the knife to Naruto, hilt first. Taking the blade reverently, Naruto smiled his thousand watt smile at the sailor, who reached into a pouch on the table and withdrew a handful of the small silver coins, holding them out to Naruto as well.

Taking the coins, Naruto inspected them, most of them had a small crown stamped in the metal, but one had a different symbol, a dog; rearing on its back legs. The sailor pointed at this coin, _"Ferelden."_ He informed them, then pointed at the other coins, curling his lip a little, _"Orlais."_

Naruto looked at Kakashi, who shrugged, "Coins from different regions maybe? Or the symbols mark how much they're worth." The clone suggested.

"_Worth!"_ The man echoed, withdrawing three more coins, one gold, one silver and one copper; he then laid them out in that order and pointed at the golden coin. _"Most."_ Then pointing at the copper coin, he continued, _"Least."_

Naruto looked on fascinated, for the first time he noticed around the dock that some of the foreigners were exchanging a few words he could understand. Kakashi seemed to have noticed it as well. "Sounds like they're learning, impressive." The masked ninja muttered, and the sailor nodded enthusiastically at this. "We should get back Naruto, it's getting late." Kakashi advised.

"We can come back tomorrow though, right sensei?" Naruto asked, grinning at the masked ninja who couldn't help concede.

"I suppose we could… I'll admit I'm curious about these people as well…" Kakashi admitted, eye-smiling.

"Yes, thank you Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, sheathing his dagger in a small sword belt the sailor handed to him. Naruto waved at the man as he and Kakashi walked back into town. "I'm surprised they're already learning our language." Naruto commented, and Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, quite impressive; did you manage to pick up any of their words?" The Kakashi clone asked, pulling his book from his equipment pouch.

"Of course not, I've only been around them twice." Naruto replied, "Why, did you pick up anything Sensei?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening as Kakashi nodded.

"Only a few words, ninja are expected to adapt and blend in with their surroundings; this can include learning customs or even dialects quickly. It's more difficult with an entirely new language, but not impossible." Kakashi eye smiled at him and Naruto couldn't help admire his new sensei even more.

"Can you teach me what you've learnt? Please Kakashi sensei!" Naruto asked, and his grin practically split his face when the one-eyed ninja nodded, still eye smiling. "Sweeet!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. "Can we start right now?"

"Hmm, I guess so, the easiest one is probably their word for fish, which is…"

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

With Kurai and the real Kakashi

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Kakashi wiped his kunai clean with a rag he'd found, raising an eyebrow at the bound ninja. After nearly twenty minutes of not so gentle interrogation, their captive had yet to show any signs of breaking. He had clearly been trained to resist torture; and given his emotionless personality, Kakashi could guess by whom.

"Naruto should be back soon Kakashi, any ideas for how we can speed this along?" Kurai asked, and from the look in his normally emotionless eyes, Kakashi didn't even have to guess as to what his ward had in mind.

"You're welcome to try, but I doubt anything you do to him will work, or at least not in a time frame we can take advantage of, he has training to resist anything you could do to him." Kakashi explained, watching as the normally reserved boy was visibly disappointed. Kakashi never would have guessed at how different Naruto and Kurai really were. He'd always figured that their core personalities were at least similar, but that was nowhere near the truth, they were polar opposites. Naruto was full of exuberance and kindness; whereas Kurai was a deeply disturbed sadist. Naruto saw the light in everything, whereas Kurai was a source of darkness. Granted he'd only been interacting with the brothers for a little under a week, but his assessment of people was seldom wrong.

"How do you purpose we crack him then? Starve him out? Sensory deprivation? Those might not take more than a week?" Kurai suggested, and Kakashi couldn't fault the boy for his creativity, he would have done well under Ibiki someday if he had stayed in the leaf village.

"No… if we can't attack the body, we'll attack the mind." He explained, kneeling in front of what he suspected to be a root operative. "Fortunately, I have the perfect tool for that." He explained, reaching a hand up to his headband. The captured ninja showed his first sign of emotion, and he couldn't help smiling under his mask. 'Thank you Obito.' He thought to himself, revealing his sharingan eye.

Instantly he could feel his borrowed eye begin to sap his chakra, he could also notice the difference to his vision. He could pick out minute details his original eye was simply incapable of detecting. A slight twitching of the captured ninja's upper arm revealed to him that the man was attempting to stretch out the ropes ever so slowly. In response, he buried his freshly cleaned kunai in the ninja's arm, stopping this attempt at escaping.

"What is that…?" Kurai asked, his mouth agape with wonder, and Kakashi turned to fix the boy in his mismatched gaze. With the assistance of his sharingan, he noticed a sort of excited trembling, and shook his head. He could imagine the Third laughing at the two wards he had placed with him. He had to have known how deranged Kurai was, but he also had to have had a reason for allowing Kurai to stay with Naruto. The old man had gone soft over the years, but not that soft.

Taking a breath, Kakashi refocused on the captured ninja, "It's called the sharingan, a bloodline in Konoha; essentially a mutation allowing for perfect sight, prediction, visual recall and control over sight based genjutsu." He explained, and Kurai nodded wide eyed, and Kakashi couldn't help but realize he had stopped considering the boy to be a child, he re-evaluated this at the expression of wonder on his charges face. He was young, maybe the darker aspects of his personality could be whittled down, it would be worth trying; for now however, there were more pressing issues.

Leaning in to the captured ninja, Kakashi focused more chakra to his sharingan, and the tomoe started to spin slowly, gradually picking up speed until it had completely enthralled his captive. "I'll ask you again, who sent you?" He repeated softly, and in his hypnotized trance the man attempted to reply, but before he could his mouth froze open, as though he had been paralyzed. Looking into his mouth Kakashi found the cause a moment later.

Tattooed on the ninja's tongue was a forest green curse mark.

Kakashi sighed, pulling his headband down to cover his sharingan, sighing again as he felt it stop draining his chakra. 'I only know of one man who uses a curse seal like that… Danzo has already tracked us down and other nations are closing in... What to do...' Kakashi mused, walking behind the root ninja and snapping his neck. He frowned at the look of disappointment in Kurai's eyes, 'Sorry kiddo, but you won't be killing anyone for a while if I have anything to say about it' he thought, before sealing the corpses in a storage scroll. "Naruto should be back soon, and we should get out of here when he returns, we'll have to find somewhere more suitable to hunker down and plan our next move." He told Kurai, who nodded, and began to pack the few things he had taken out for their little interrogation session. Kakashi was about to bring up the boys ruthless killing of their captive when he heard three sharp knocks on the door, followed by the loud thump of a closed fist.

Walking across the main room of the building, Kakashi opened the door to find a grinning Naruto starring up at him, and a cloud of smoke from his freshly dispelled clone. A moment later, half a dozen new words flowed through his mind, as well as his clone's impromptu lesson with Naruto.

"Hey Kakashi-Sensei, did I do the knock right?" Naruto asked, grinning at him, and when Kakashi nodded, the blonde practically skipped into the building, straight over to Kurai.

"Kurai, Kurai, look, I got the knife!" Naruto exclaimed, drawing it from a horizontal sheath on the small of his back. The blade shone red in the low light from the building fireplace, painting the walls bloody, seeing the blade up close Kakashi had to admit it was fine craftsmanship, it almost reminded him of his father's old tanto blade, but not quite, the style was different. It was enough to bring back memories of his early years under Minato though, in his nostalgia he almost missed Kurai's nearly seamless transition from killer to brother. He had to admit, it was impressive the way Kurai could juggle the two sides of his personality at such a young age.

"I see that Naruto, how did bartering with the foreigners go?" Kurai asked, and Naruto's response was to reach into the pocket of his jumpsuit, a ridiculous neon orange affair, and pulling out a handful of small silver coins.

"It went great, they gave me these as change, and I learnt a few words!" Naruto exclaimed, sheathing the dagger and using his now free had to point to one of the coins, which thanks to his clones memories Kakashi knew was called an Orlais, and then at one of the others with a small dog called a Ferelden. Naruto rattled off half a dozen other words they had worked out while shopping, and Kakashi chuckled at the blonde's enthusiasm.

Looking out a window, Kakashi noticed it had grown quite late, and stepping forward he cleared his throat to get the attention of his charges, "I know it's been an exciting day, but we need to get an early start tomorrow, you said you wanted to see the sailors open up their stall, right Naruto?"

"Yeah, But I don't think I can sleep, I'm waaaaay too excited." Naruto informed him in such a solemn tone, Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, I could teach you guys a few meditation techniques I know, they can help you sleep." Kakashi suggested, and as with every other thing he'd offered to teach Naruto was immediately excited about learning a new technique; even if it was just for meditation. "Alright, roll out your sleeping mats and I'll show you, Remember the whole purpose of these exercises are to relax yourself so you can rest, we'll start with some deep breathing…"

Fifteen minutes later both boys were asleep and Kakashi was knocking the owner of the building out for the second time that day.

/ / / / / / / / /

AN: Alrighty, so there's another chapter, uhh, not much happened in this one, sorta just setting things up again. I looked down at the word count for this and I realized it was already at over eight thousand words, but I'd only gotten half as far as I'd wanted, so not sure if I'm putting in more description or every sentence is a run on… Keep in mind I write these AN's before I edit, so I'll know more conclusively before this is posted and I'll act accordingly.

Uhh, alright things to talk about with this chapter… Ah, the language thing is something else I wanted to go into a bit of detail about. In most crossovers I've read, I don't think there's been one where someone addresses that there are two different cultures converging. The people of Thedas primarily speak English, while the native language of the elemental nations would likely speak Japanese, it may take longer, but I wanted to address the fact that Naruto, Kurai and Kakashi will be learning an entirely new language.

Oh, and Keep in mind Naruto and Kurai are nine, but this is taking place before the events of origins, so by the time those roll around they will be older, just wanted to get that out of the way now so no one's blindsided… or at least the people who actually read these AN's aren't…

Anyway, if you guys could leave a review or whatever that would be great, always appreciate when someone takes the time to give me some feedback. Till next time :D


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